


Surprises

by CruelBeauty



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Coming Out, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 16:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14193081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CruelBeauty/pseuds/CruelBeauty
Summary: “I have known you to be many things but I didn’t know a coward was one of them.”“You act like it’s not more complicated than that. Coming out is a big deal. I thought you didn’t care if our relationship was public.” John said, his hands resting on his hips.





	Surprises

“I have known you to be many things but I didn’t know a coward was one of them.”

“You act like it’s not more complicated than that. Coming out is a big deal. I thought you didn’t care if our relationship was public.” John said, his hands resting on his hips.

“Well that was before you decided to denounce our relationship in public. There is a difference between not correcting someone and actively denying something.”

“It’s complicated.” John said.

“What pathetic excuse is it now? They will see me differently. I shouldn’t have to come out, since straight people don’t. My family will judge me.”

John sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “You just don’t get it.”

Sherlock let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “You act like I’ve never had to come out.”

John frowned, Sherlock could practically see the wheels turning in his head. “What do you mean?”

“Oh for the love of God, John. I am gay! I had to come out like everyone else. I went through the same phase as every other confused teenager. I got confused questions from my parents and offensive comments. You act like I don’t understand but I understand perfectly. I got made fun of for it. I got asked inappropriate questions. I got talked about. My parents told me it was just a phase. Get over yourself. You’re not special! The difference is I wasn’t a coward. I decided to actually live true to myself” Sherlock said, uncaring of the way John’s face began to fall.

“That’s rich coming from someone who still claims to be a sociopath.”

Sherlock bristled. “That’s not the same and you know it.”

“Is it Sherlock? You are using an incorrect assumption about you to hide your true self in order to protect yourself. How exactly are the two different.”

Sherlock paused, a rare sight. “It just is.”

“No it’s not. You’re being a bloody hypocrite.”

“Me saying I am a sociopath doesn’t affect anyone but myself.” Sherlock said, satisfied with himself for coming up with an answer.

“You think it doesn’t affect anyone else? It upsets me. I care about you. I don’t want people viewing you that way.” John says, he can feel himself growing more and more frustrated with the conversation.

“Fine. So what if you are right? All that proves is neither of us are being honest with ourselves. You are only further incriminating yourself.”

“Why do you even care so much? Normally you are all about people staying out of our lives.”

“Because it’s you John! I want people to know we are dating. I want those obnoxious girls to stop staring at you and flirting. I want to be able to go on dates with you in public. I want people to know John Watson is mine.” Sherlock said, a hint of desperation leaking into his voice.

John sighed, running a hand through his hair. He shifted back and forth on his feet. “I guess I hadn’t realized you cared so much about it. I will make you a deal, you correct people when they say you are a sociopath or anything of the like and we can go public.” John said. If he was being honest he would go public with him even if he didn’t agree to his terms, he just figured he should at least try and get something out of it.

Sherlock made his thinking face for a moment despite knowing he would agree. He didn’t want John to see how desperate he was about the whole matter. “Fine. You have a deal.”

John let out a long breath. He ran his hands over his face. Are people always this nervous about coming out? Sherlock watched as John clenched his hands at his side, he could see them shaking. Sherlock stepped forward and cautiously wrapped his arms around him, unsure how well received it would be at the moment. “I’m sorry, John. I shouldn’t force you. You don’t have to come out if you don’t want to. It was… insensitive of me.”

John wrapped his arms around Sherlock in return. “It’s fine. I know you are right, I just don’t like it. I have been living a lie. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to me. I don’t know why I care so much about what people think. I shouldn’t have to live a lie just because other people are bigots. I shouldn’t adjust my life to make other people more comfortable.”

“If anyone says anything unacceptable I can frame them for murder. No one would ever figure it out.” Sherlock said very seriously. “Between the fact the Yard is full of idiots and the fact they would call me to investigate, they would never figure it out.”

John let out a laugh that gently shook Sherlock. He always loved when he was holding John and he could feel vibrations from him laughing or talking against him. It made it all somehow feel more real. “I- I know it is scary John but it’ll be for the best. I believe it was sir Ian McKellen that said he had never met a gay person who regretted coming out. Life at last begins to make sense, when you are open and honest.”

“Thank you.” John whispered against him.

“Of course.” Sherlock said gently and rested his hand gently against the back of his neck. Sometimes it still felt unreal, all of it. That they had been dating long enough for this all to even be a discussion. It had been almost a full year since they started dating. A year of hiding and secrets. But no more.

“I’m sorry I have been hurting you this whole time.” John said quietly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, John. You have no need to apologize. You have been an exceptional partner.” Sherlock said.

“Regardless, I will try to do better in the future.” John said and pressed a kiss to the side of Sherlock’s neck.

“John?”

“Yes?”

“So- I have weighed the option in my mind for quite some time and I have come to the conclusion we should get married.” Sherlock said quickly.

John pulled back from Sherlock and looked into his eyes, his hands clutching onto his shirt. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Deadly.” He replied simply.

John scanned over his face, his eyes had an open vulnerability to them, something he hadn’t seen since their first kiss. “Of course, you idiot.” John said fondly and pressed himself to Sherlock.

John pressed his lips softly and full of love against Sherlock’s. He could feel one of his lovely smiles on his face, the one that is rare but so beautiful when it happens.

“Oh this went even better than I thought so we have a little extra time. Go upstairs and change into the blue jumper and black slacks.”

John turned to go, then paused. “Wait, why am I changing exactly?”

Sherlock rolled his eyes. “So we can go get married, obviously. We have to be there in an hour. I figured you would want to change, unless you want our wedding pictures to be your in jeans.”

John blinked for a few seconds. “You are telling me… we are getting married in an hour?”

“Yes- do keep up.”

John ran a hand over his face and couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped him. “Of course it is. I should have known you planned all of this. I’m guessing that fight was planned to, you had to see if I would be alright with being married publicly to you. Who all is going to be there? Do we have rings?”

“Of course. And it’ll just be us and Tom.”

“Tom? Who in the bloody hell is Tom?”

“Oh you don’t know him. He is a part of the homeless network.”

“Why is he our only guest, dare I ask.”

“I don’t want anyone else there, and Tom will most likely be too high to remember any of it afterwards. I want us to be married but I would rather die than have Mummy or Mycroft there to watch.”

John considered arguing with Sherlock but decided against it. The marriage would be a complete shock to everyone since they don’t even know they are dating. Mycroft being the only one who knew, and there would be something unsettling about Mycroft watching. There wasn’t really anyone on his side of the family he felt the need to invite. “Well, it’s fine with me. You get to explain why she wasn’t invited later to Mrs. Hudson though.”

Sherlock groaned but nodded. “Now hurry up, I could have changed three times by now.”

John returned a few minutes later in the outfit requested of him. Sherlock looked up and down his body approvingly. “Do I look okay?” John asked, his hands messing with the bottom of the shirt he was wearing.

Sherlock stalked forward, his eyes never leaving his. “You look delicious.” Sherlock said, one hand resting on his hip, the other on the dip of his back. He pulled him flush against him. Sherlock beant down and connected their lips. They spent a moment sharing an unhurried kiss before Sherlock reluctantly broke them apart. “As much as I would love for this to continue I have a wedding to go to.”

They looked at each other very seriously for a moment before they both broke out into laughter. “Let’s go get married.” John said and took Sherlock’s hand.

The wedding was both what John had always dreamed of and yet completely different. Sherlock rushed the priest throughout the ceremony. Tom delivered on his end and seemed to be beyond high the whole time. Sherlock’s vows were way more sentimental than even John thought. It was more sappy then even John could come up with, to be fair though Sherlock knew they were getting married and had time to prepare.

A few times John saw tears building in his eyes, though Sherlock would later deny such a thing. Unsurprisingly Sherlock managed to get his ring size right. Sherlock bought them matching bands, nothing special. Just plain silver (gold would have clashed with your complexion, John).

Just after the ceremony Sherlock made the priest take photos of them doing all type of ridiculous poses, somehow managing to capture a few good ones in the process. There was one in particular that made both John and Sherlock tear up a bit, during a particularly dumb pose they both broke out laughing while holding onto each other. It seemed more real and authentic than any of the others, the love could be felt by looking at it. “We need to make a copy of that one and hang it up.” John said, his hand intertwining with Sherlock’s.

Sherlock agreed with John and pressed a kiss to the top of John’s head. Just as they got ready to leave Sherlock heard his phone go off. Sherlock flicked his eyes over to John who just shrugged. “What would be more fitting than having to solve a murder right after our wedding?”

Sherlock looked at the phone and smiled. “Let’s go, John!”

They took a cab to the crime scene and strolled in together like normal, Sherlock headed immediately to the body. John stood near him like always. Lestrade came over with a cup of coffee in hand. “They didn’t find any ID on her. Some bloke found her body while riding his bike.”

“John, death?” Sherlock said simply.

John huffed fondly and went closer to the body. “I would say she has been dead for at least a couple hours. Died of what looks like blunt force trauma. Based on the wound I would guess some type of hammer?”

“Excellent, John.” Sherlock murmured and continued examining the body.

“God, we already called in the freak?” A voice chimed behind them. John closed his eyes for a moment and clenched his fists. He really wasn’t in the mood for her today.

Lestrade shot Sally a glare that didn’t seem to phase her.

Sherlock stood up and went towards Lestrade. “She is on vacation, most likely from Indiana. She came to meet up with a friend, most likely from University. They used to date, when he asked her out and she denied him he was mad. He waited for her to pass an alleyway and hit her with a hammer from the nearby construction site. You should find the murder weapon in one of the nearby alleyways. Restaurant security footage should reveal the killer.”

Lestrade wrote frantically as John watched in awe. Just as John was going to exclaim some form of praise Sally gasped. “Is the freak wearing a wedding ring!?”

John could see from the corner of his eye Sherlock tensing. “That must be for a case. There is no way in hell someone would date, let alone marry him.” She said sharply.

Lestrade bit out a quick, “Donovan.” But the damage was done.

“Does your incompetent team need anything else?” Sherlock asked coldly.

Lestrade scanned his notes quickly. “I don’t think so.” Lestrade said sheepishly.

“Well then John and I will be-” Sherlock began and begun to leave but John’s hand snaked down to his wrist and kept him in place. 

“For the record Donovan, it’s not for a case. They are a set.” John said and held up his hand to show his own ring. 

Sally laughed, “What? Did he bribe you or something?”

John let out a clipped laugh and stepped forward, closing in on Sally. At this point all eyes were on the pair. “Unlike you Sally, Sherlock actually has redeeming qualities. He is a better person then you can even dream of. And he didn’t need to bribe me, though you probably don’t understand that since you have had to pay for your last few sexual encounters. Now kindly do me a favor and fuck off before I have to break my promise of never hitting a girl, and trust me, I could break every bone in your body while naming it for you.”

Lestrade just watched in shock. He knew he should step in and break it off but Sally honestly needed to be brought down a few pegs.

“Now, if you don’t mind Lestrade. If Sherlock is done solving his case for you all we are gonna go back to our flat and take a vacation.” John said, he grabbed Sherlock’s hand and spared a nod at Lestrade before leaving the crime scene, all eyes on them as they left. Just before they were out of earshot John called out, “Don’t bother contacting us for another week, that should give you time to train your team to treat Sherlock with some respect.”

John flagged down a cab ( for once) and told the driver to take them to Baker Street before looking at Sherlock. His mouth was parted, his eyes soft. “Sorry about that. I just can’t stand how they treat you. Especially on our wedding day.”

Sherlock just leaned forward and pressed his mouth roughly against John’s, keeping a hand on John’s cheek, keeping him close. “You, John Watson, are incredible.”

John smiled. “Is it still John Watson. Maybe John Holmes?”

“Oh no, it’ll be Sherlock and John Watson.” Sherlock says.

“Really?”

“Of course, John. I’ve never liked my last name anyway. Watson is much better.”

John smiled, his hand resting on top of Sherlock’s, gently stroking it with his thumb. “I think I could grow to quite like that.”

“So John, I was thinking. Where should we go for our honeymoon?”

“Do we have money for that?” John questioned with an eyebrow raise.

“It’s my treat. Or should I say Mycroft’s. He should know better than to leave his card lying about.”

John laughed, his eyes crinkling at the edge. “Surprise me. You seem to be good at those.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have been a part of this fandom since the very beginning and yet for some reason I have never written a fic for it before now. Let me know your thoughts.
> 
> Coming out is a personal choice. Do what is best for you. As someone who is completely out, it really is a good feeling and I hope someday you have the opportunity to do so with no or few consequences.


End file.
